South Africa tailenders Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen have hung in against relentless fast bowler Mohammad Abbas for a tense two-wicket win in the first Test in Centurion to seal the Proteas’ place in next year’s World Test Championship (WTC) final.
Jansen (16 not out) overshadowed Abbas’s brilliant figures of 6-54 on Sunday with a square driven boundary against the fast bowler as South Africa reached 150-8 just after lunch on Day 4 and escaped with a close win in the opener of the two-match series.
“Quite an emotional moment for me, good advert for Test cricket,” said South Africa captain Temba Bavuma, who made 40.
“We haven’t been ruthless but have found a way to ensure the result was on our side. Lot of joy and happiness on our side, a bit of a roller-coaster, glad that we were able to get the result.”
Abbas, making a comeback after more than three years in the Test wilderness, had knocked back South Africa’s tricky chase of 148 runs in a marathon 13-over spell before lunch as the home team limped to 99-8, losing four wickets for three runs.
However, Rabada changed gears in an unbroken 51-run stand with Jansen and made an unbeaten 31 off 26 balls with five fours to seal a memorable victory and denied Pakistan its first Test win in South Africa in almost 18 years.
South Africa had started this WTC cycle with a 1-1 drawn series against India before getting swept 2-0 in New Zealand. But since then, the Proteas have beaten the West Indies, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to stay on top of the table.
“It [the WTC final] is a big one, not just for myself but also the team and the coach,” Bavuma said. “The way we started our campaign against India and then New Zealand with a not-so-strong team and the way we have gone through with our performances not many gave us a chance.”
India, Australia and Sri Lanka are the other teams still in contention for June’s WTC final against South Africa at Lord’s.
Captain Temba Bavuma (40) and Aiden Markram (37) had thwarted Abbas for an hour after South Africa resumed at a wobbly 27-3, still needing 121 for victory.
Bavuma’s controversial dismissal punctuated a South Africa collapse in the latter half of the first session with Abbas grabbing three off his six balls in a sensational home team collapse.
Bavuma surprisingly didn’t request a television review when replays suggested that Abbas’s ball had brushed the batter’s pocket and didn’t make contact with the inside edge of the bat, and the South African skipper walked back to the dressing room.
Abbas bowled an unchanged marathon spell of 13 overs but had to wait as Markram and Bavuma saw off eight overs from the fast bowlers.
Resuming at 27-3, Bavuma and Markram showed plenty of patience against Abbas’s probing line and length before the fast bowler finally got the breakthrough after the first drinks break.
Abbas was rewarded for his brilliant seam bowling when he beat the outside edge of Markram’s bat and knocked back the off stump.
Bavuma survived a couple of close chances when he successfully overturned an on-field LBW decision against him early in the day and Naseem Shah couldn’t hold onto a sharp catch at fine leg as he overstepped the boundary cushion while grabbing the ball over his head.
South Africa had controlled the game at 96-4 before Bavuma’s dismissal saw Abbas finding the outside edges of David Bedingham’s (14) and Corbin Bosch’s (0) bat off successive deliveries, and in between, Kyle Verreynne dragged Naseem Shah’s delivery back onto his stumps.
Abbas found the outside edge of Rabada’s bat in his first over after lunch that fell just short of wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan before both tailenders took the team home.
“Extremely proud of the efforts, but going forward, we need to be ruthless,” Pakistan captain Shan Masood said. “We keep making the same mistakes, but we have to get over the line, seize moments.”
The second Test begins at Cape Town on Friday.
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